DICK’S Sporting Goods Review: The Smart Scale Will Lie To You

1. What we verified, and what blocked us

Their robots.txt permits crawling of the pages we wanted — it restricts account, cart, checkout and wishlist paths and imposes no restrictions on AI agents. In practice most paths returned 403 to ordinary requests, and the one that returned 200 was an empty JavaScript shell. We rendered the dumbbell category in a browser successfully, which is the source of every price and brand we quote, and two other category URLs we tried do not exist. So this review rests on one sampled category plus the site-wide banners, and we have not read their returns policy, warranty terms or shipping detail beyond what the header states.

What that means for a reader: we can tell you what the equipment costs and who makes it, and we cannot tell you how easy it is to send back. For a retailer this size that is a real gap — returns are the thing you most want to understand when buying shoes or a heavy piece of equipment online — and the practical workaround is the same as our main recommendation, which is to buy the things that need trying on in a shop where returning them is a conversation rather than a courier booking.

The commercial terms we did capture from the site header: free shipping on orders of $49 or more, which also requires being signed in; one-hour pickup and same-day delivery offered; and a ScoreCard+ membership at $99 a year advertised as $350 in member benefits with the claim that it pays for itself and a terms-apply note. There was also a one-day flash sale advertising up to 50% off select styles, dated to the day we looked, which is at least a sale with an actual end date rather than a permanent condition — something we have not been able to say about several other retailers in this series.

2. The membership arithmetic

Get $350 In Member Benefits for $99/Year. When you join ScoreCard+. It pays for itself! Terms apply. That framing deserves the same scrutiny as any bundled-value claim, and the test is simple: a membership only pays for itself if the benefits attach to purchases you were going to make anyway. Three hundred and fifty dollars of value that requires you to spend a thousand dollars you had not planned to spend is not a saving, it is a spending programme.

We did not open the terms, so we cannot tell you what the $350 comprises — whether it is points, coupons, shipping, exclusive access or a mix, and what expiry attaches to each. That is exactly the thing to read before joining. If you are someone who equips a family of school sports players every autumn, a retailer membership may genuinely pay. If you are buying one pair of dumbbells and some shoes because you have started exercising for the first time in years, the $99 is very likely worse value than simply buying the dumbbells and the shoes.

The free-shipping condition is worth flagging in the same breath, because it has two parts and most people notice only one. It requires a $49 order and it requires signing in. On a $12.99 pair of dumbbells that means either an account and a bigger basket, or paying postage on a small heavy item — and heavy items are where shipping costs bite hardest. This is another argument for collection: one-hour pickup on something that weighs twenty pounds is a genuinely better proposition than having it couriered.

3. Footwear, feet, and why the old size may be wrong

Shoes are the other purchase in this shop that genuinely matters for someone who has started exercising, and they are the one most often got wrong by ordering from memory. Feet are not fixed. Substantial weight loss reduces fluid retention, which for anyone whose ankles and feet used to swell can change fit noticeably; and the fat pad on the sole of the foot, which acts as natural cushioning, is affected by body composition too. Someone eighteen months into a weight-loss journey may genuinely need a different size or width from the one written inside their old trainers.

The practical rules are cheap and worth following. Get measured rather than assuming, and do it in the afternoon or evening, because feet are largest later in the day and a shoe fitted first thing will feel tight by the time you use it. Wear the socks you will actually train in. Allow a thumb's width at the end. And if you have been dealing with heel pain, be aware that plantar fasciitis is considerably more common at higher body weights and frequently improves as weight comes down — which means the maximum-support shoe you needed a year ago may not be what you need now, and it is worth reassessing rather than replacing like for like.

On apparel, the same restraint applies as to the rest of a wardrobe during active weight loss. Do not stock up. But do buy two things that fit properly now, because badly fitting kit is a genuine and underrated reason people quit — nobody sustains a habit they feel uncomfortable doing. Two items that fit beats six that do not, and the six will be the wrong size by spring anyway.

What is DICK'S and why review it here?

A large US omni-channel sporting goods retailer with physical stores and a big online range covering equipment, footwear, apparel and accessories. It has nothing to do with medication. It earns a place here because resistance training is the best-evidenced way to hold onto muscle while losing weight on a GLP-1, and this is where most people would actually buy the equipment to do it — plus one category on the site that we think this readership should mostly avoid.

Why shouldn't I buy a body-fat scale?

Because of how it works. Bioimpedance scales pass a tiny current through your body and infer fat and lean mass from the resistance they measure — and that resistance depends heavily on how hydrated you are, since water conducts and fat does not. Your hydration is normally reasonably stable, so the error is at least consistent. On a GLP-1 it is not: appetite suppression cuts fluid intake, and nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea move it further. So the body-fat and muscle-mass numbers on the display will swing with your water balance and you will read that as gaining or losing muscle.

But I want to track whether I'm losing muscle. How?

Use proxies that are not affected by water. The best one is strength progression: write down what you lifted and check whether the weight on the bar is going up over weeks. If you are adding load and reps, you are not wasting away. Second, a tape measure at fixed landmarks — same spots, same time of day, once a fortnight. Third, photographs in the same light and position, monthly. Fourth, how your clothes fit. None of those is glamorous and all of them are more informative than a scale that reports two decimal places of body fat.

What is actually worth buying for keeping muscle?

Very little, and cheaply. In the dumbbell category we sampled, prices started at $12.99 and ran past $1,699.99 for large adjustable systems — and the expensive end is not what determines whether this works. What determines it is doing progressive resistance work two or three times a week, which a pair of adjustable dumbbells and somewhere to sit will deliver. Brands on offer included Body-Solid, Fitness Gear, ETHOS, Marcy, PowerBlock, Bowflex, Nike, Apex and Lifeline Fitness, sold as singles, pairs and sets. Buy the cheap version, use it for two months, and only then decide whether you want the expensive version.

Why does this matter so much on a GLP-1?

Because a meaningful share of the weight is not fat. In the STEP 1 trial of semaglutide, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2021, the body-composition substudy found fat mass fell 19.3% and lean mass fell 9.7%. Lean tissue includes muscle, which carries you up stairs, stabilises your joints and disposes of most of your glucose. Resistance training plus adequate protein is the intervention with the best evidence for limiting that loss. A set of dumbbells is a more consequential purchase for this than anything else in the shop.

What about running shoes?

Go into a store and get fitted rather than reordering the size you have always worn. Substantial weight loss can genuinely change your feet — reduced fluid retention and changes to the fat padding under the sole both affect fit — so the size and width that were right eighteen months ago may not be right now. Try shoes on later in the day when feet are at their largest, and if you have had heel pain, note that plantar fasciitis is more common at higher body weights and often eases as weight comes down, which may change what support you need.

Should I stock up on activewear?

No, buy the minimum that fits now. This is the same logic that applies to the rest of your wardrobe during active weight loss: anything you buy today may be too big in four months, and technical apparel is not cheap. Buy a couple of things that fit properly — ill-fitting kit is a genuine reason people skip workouts — and wait until your weight has been stable for a while before replacing a wardrobe.

Is the paid membership worth it?

Do the arithmetic before joining. The site advertises ScoreCard+ at $99 a year, describing it as $350 in member benefits and saying it pays for itself, with terms applying. Whether that holds depends entirely on whether you would have used those specific benefits anyway — a membership only pays for itself if the value is in things you were already going to buy. Read what the $350 comprises before you accept the framing. Separately, free shipping requires an order of $49 or more and signing in, and one-hour pickup and same-day delivery are offered.

Is there a reason to use the shops rather than the website?

Yes, and it is the honest recommendation even though it earns us nothing. Shoes need to be tried on, especially if your feet have changed. Dumbbells are worth holding before you buy — the difference between a weight you will actually use and one that sits in a cupboard is often how it feels in your hand. A physical store solves both. Use the website to check what is in stock nearby, then go and handle the thing.